Tuesday, May 12, 2015

The highlight of the week was Mother's Day, no doubt! :) It was so much fun getting to see everyone and talk to you. The week leading up to it was great as well.

Monday: We had a couple of lessons after we spent our P-Day setting up our lifting rack we got. We taught a lesson to Justin. It was a crazy one! We are pretty sure that he got some anti material so that was a little rough, but it all comes back to reading and praying about the Book of Mormon for yourself, so that's what he committed to do. Then we had a lesson with Chris and Angel.

Tuesday: We had lunch at Bro. McDuffie's today then we had a lesson with Steve and Joy at the Bellaire Library, that was really fun. We spent a big part of the day knocking on doors, the weather was great, and it was fun. We knocked into a member and spent some time with him. We had a great lesson with a new investigator named Rich. He really likes us and he's really open to learn.

Wednesday: We had lessons today with Chris and Angel, and also Tiffany. We spent some time with Gary Piatt today which was sweet, Gary is a stud. Not a super eventful day, all of our plans seemed to fall through...

Thursday: Today we had Zone Conference in Midland! It was so great to get to go back! I got to see Elder Rapp, my Boy! :) I also got to see Elder Nielsen and my entire MTC district was there as well. The training was really good on how we can be better finders and planners. I got permission to go and see John and Karolyn on the way home. It was the the BEST! She answered and said come in and then she took a double take and realized it was me, and she freaked out! I got to spend about 45 minutes there. We talked about the temple and they are going to do baptisms soon. We also reminisced about the good old days. :) ha. They are the best, I love them so much!

Friday: Today was really good. We also got fed a ton of food. We went to the Hildebrand's and they fed us and we had a good lesson. Then we went to see Rich, and he had pizza for us. We talked a lot, but we still had a good lesson, he's a great guy. Then we had dinner at the Belitz's and following that we were door knocking and met the guy who owns all the McDonald's around here and he gave us like 35 free McFlurry cards! They are really trying to fatten us up here! ha.

Saturday: Today we spent a while doing service at the Chowhan's, since they are trying to get it all done, we did some sanding and painting of the ceiling, it was some fun stuff. Then we knocked on some doors, and met some interesting people. We had dinner with the Piatt's. They are amazing! Then we were able to go to the Chowhan's and give him a blessing. It was a really powerful experience.

Sunday: Church was great. Steve spoke about Mother's. He called them "Awesome", "So Cool", and said "Wow" like 100 times. It was super great, we love Steve! :) We had a great lesson with Tiffany today about repentance and putting God first. Then we had burritos and Bible study over at Dennis' house. That was really fun. Then we got to Skype! It was so great getting to see everybody and talk. THE BEST! :) Such a blessing of technology.

My spiritual thought is from what I said about our lesson with Tiffany. To Repent is to change. We find great counsel from the Savior himself in 3 Nephi 13:33- "But seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you." Take a look at your life, and think of the instances where you could put God first, and then repent (change) and see the blessings that will come. :)

I love you all so much, and I love my Mom! Happy Mother's Day!

Love,

Elder Chalmers

Gary Piatt and me

Elder Rapp and me-together again

The Shocknesse's. I love them!

KALKASKA MIRACLES! May 4, 2015

This was a really great week in Kalkaska, Michigan. It has finally gotten warm and it's been great! :) We had a lot of really cool experiences this week. I will give you the highlights!

Monday: We had district P-Day and played some basketball then we did trade-offs and Elder Lowder cut my hair. He did a pretty good job. ha. We doorknocked the rest of the day. We knocked some sketchy apartments. We asked this one guy when we could come back and he said when he had finished his brandy and wasn't drunk. So I offered to dump it out for him and he offered to beat me up (lthough he didn't say it that way) ha. We had a couple of doors where the people weren't interested so we bore our testimony to them, it was really great to be able to leave with the Spirit there.

Tuesday: Elder Lowder and I met the craziest people today. These two ladies had us sit with them on their back porch. They talked to us for an hour about their beliefs about UFOs and spaceships and all kinds of crazy stuff. WOW! I actually learned a lot from it... What I received was a testimony of teaching simply. They said so much stuff to us that we left not understanding a word that they said. ha. We had a great time on the trade-off. I also got to do a baptismal interview for one of the Cadillac Sister's investigators, named Joe. He was really cool. (Elder Houser and Hoover taught Deb today and put her on date to be baptized, she is so solid!)

Wednesday: We had district meeting in Cadillac today, it went great! We were able to have some good lessons today. We taught George, Tiffany and Virginia. She is on fire. :) She is such a funny lady. Then we had a lesson with a new investigator we found a few weeks ago. His name is Justin and he's 23. We went over there and he told us how he feels like God has a purpose for him. Bro. Chowhan was super pumped about it. The lesson went great. He's solid.

Thursday: Today was also really good. We spent time knocking in Bellaire. We met this guy who is friends with one of our investigators, named JR. He said JR had talked about us and he wants to meet with us and JR next time, it was awesome! Then we drove down to Bro. Chowhan's. We had a big branch service project for him. Since he is super sick and they want to be able to close on the house. It was really incredible to see how so many people came together to help them out. It was really fun.

Friday: Today we weekly planned and then spent almost all of our day in Elk Rapids. It is a little community right on Lake Michigan and it is super nice. We had lunch with President Hoover. He used to be the Superintendent there so he literally knew every single person we passed, it was like going to Cafe Rio with Dad. We did a lot of door knocking. It was a cool experience. We talked to a lot of people and everyone was really friendly and we had a lot of great conversations with people. I feel like the Lord had given us a specific task to plant seeds all day. I feel like everyone we met was given a much more positive attitude towards the church as a result of our visits. It was really cool to be an instrument in the Lord's hands.

Saturday: Today we did a good chunk of door knocking. The weather was perfect today is was like 75 degrees and sunny. Then we had a couple of great lessons. We taught Justin and man is he prepared! We taught him the Restoration. We first had him read it and he did and he said that he learned that there is a modern day prophet. Then he told us that when we had called him last night he was reading the pamphlet, and read about Joseph Smith, so he decided to pray and ask God is Joseph Smith was a prophet. Man! It was like a breathe of fresh air to see him take the initiative like that. He has some real intent! He said he hasn't gotten an answer yet, but we can tell he's determined. Then we had a lesson with George, he's been frustrating, he won't really do anything. He plays video games all day. Bro Chowhan pretty much chastised him last time for it, it was funny. We pretty much put the ball in his court for meeting with us. Then we went with Steve Cole down to Kalkaska for Joe's Baptism. It went great. His car broke down on the way but they got him there safe and sound. :)

Sunday: Deb came to church today! She was fellowshipped really great as well. We did some door knocking and had a lot of success. Then we had our Bible Study/ Dinner at Dennis' house. (Virginia's nephew) It was awesome, we got to teach it, and we taught it on obedience. They really liked it. Then we taught Tiffany.

This week I have been doing a lot of study in Alma 41, which talks all about the Resurrection or as he phrases it, the plan of restoration. I never quite understood the Resurrection fully but this chapter is amazing. A few verses I really like from it are verses 13 and 14,

13 O, my son, this is not the case; but the meaning of the word restoration is to bring back again evil for evil, or carnal for carnal, or devilish for devilish—good for that which is good; righteous for that which is righteous; just for that which is just; merciful for that which is merciful.

14 Therefore, my son, see that you are merciful unto your brethren; deal justly, judge righteously, and do good continually; and if ye do all these things then shall ye receive your reward; yea, ye shall have mercy restored unto you again; ye shall have justice restored unto you again; ye shall have a righteous judgment restored unto you again; and ye shall have good rewarded unto you again.

When we understand that the things we do and desire here will all come back to us, they help me to better understand that the little things I do each day matter. Decisions Determine Destiny!